Algeria Revolts: Liberation Front Opens War on France
The National Liberation Front (FLN) launched coordinated attacks across Algeria on November 1, 1954, striking military and police targets in 70 locations simultaneously. The attacks killed eight people. France dismissed the violence as terrorism from a fringe group. It was the opening of an eight-year war that would kill between 400,000 and 1.5 million Algerians and bring France to the brink of civil war. The French Army deployed 400,000 troops and used systematic torture against suspected FLN supporters. The Battle of Algiers in 1957 became a case study in urban guerrilla warfare. In 1958, the crisis toppled the Fourth Republic, and Charles de Gaulle returned to power. He negotiated Algerian independence in 1962 despite a revolt by French settlers and military officers. A million French Algerians fled to France.
October 31, 1954
72 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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